Were They Racist Or Just Rude?

December 03, 2000

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has issued a carefully calibrated report on the shabby treatment meted out last summer to more than 250 African American and Hispanic children and their camp counselors at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport. The campers alleged that while visiting the public park on July 13, white state employees demeaned them by using racial slurs, telling the children they were dirtying the water and forcing them to pick up other people's litter.

After the Department of Administrative Services turned in an inconclusive report on the incident in August, the state Department of Environmental Protection asked Mr. Blumenthal to conduct a more thorough investigation.

FOR THE RECORD - Correction was published Wednesday December 6, 2000 on Page A12.In the Dec. 3 editorial ``Were They Racist Or Just Rude?'' The Courant incorrectly identified the seasonal conservation officer in Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's report on the incident at Sherwood Island State Park in July. Steven Chepow is the employee who confronted the visiting children and their camp counselors and appeared to be ``intimidating and humiliating,'' according to the Blumenthal report. The Courant regrets the error.

His report, released this week, rebuked the park employees but did not conclude that they acted with racial bias. Although Mr. Blumenthal found no evidence that racial epithets were expressed, the evidence, he said, ``leads unfortunately and unavoidably to the conclusion that the DEP staff was unfair, rude and confrontational.'' The staff also ``created the strong impression'' that the campers were not welcome.

The report says that the children were compelled to clean up others' trash, and were given no opportunity to explain that the litter wasn't theirs. The park's seasonal director, Paul M. Tymniak III, appeared on the beach in his DEP uniform, with a badge, gun and nightstick -- making him ``intimidating and humiliating,'' according to the report.

Mr. Blumenthal maintains he found no proof of actual racist acts. Still, it's fair to wonder on what grounds did park employees, who are white, decide that the campers were unwelcome? Would the park employees have been as rude to a group of white campers? Would they have asked such a group to clean up trash they didn't leave behind?

True, the facts gathered by Mr. Blumenthal's investigators don't amount to conclusive evidence of racism. Nor do they exonerate the workers on that account, however. Whether racism or rudeness was involved in the incident, there's no place in public facilities for employees who are less than civil to all visitors.

The DEP deserves praise for its effort to get a thorough investigation. Agency officials promised to diversify their seasonal work force and expand sensitivity training. These measures should have been in place a long time ago.